


Love and Pancakes

by lastchancecafe



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: 5+1 Things, Domestic Fluff, M/M, so many pancakes, stevie budd is a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:34:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25008523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastchancecafe/pseuds/lastchancecafe
Summary: One day you’ll wake up at 11:30 on a Sunday with the love of your life and you’ll make some coffee and pancakes and it’ll be alright.Or 5 times the boys don't eat pancakes- and one time they do.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose, Stevie Budd & David Rose
Comments: 26
Kudos: 159





	Love and Pancakes

~ 1 ~

David is standing at the stove, sleep lingering on his face, and rumpling hair as he pours the batter steadily onto the pan.

He glances back towards the bedroom thankful that his boyfriend is such a deep sleeper so he has time to make this right. He’s not normally this sentimental- especially before 10 am but he can’t help the happiness bubbling up inside of him this morning.

“Boyfriend,” he hums with a smile. That word still sends a little tingle down his spine and sure maybe they haven’t actually said the word but it’s been just the two of them for almost 3 months now… either way, this is the first time he spent the night rather than leaving at the end and that alone deserves pancakes.

So he watches the circles of batter, looking for the telltale bubbles at the edges and sends a quick thought of thanks to all of the YouTube tutorials he watched when he first moved here for the knowledge that when he flips these over they will be the perfect golden brown.

“What’s all of this?” a voice calls out, still deep with sleep, as it moves towards the kitchen.

“Thought we deserved a little something special this morning.” David says his voice teasing, “these will be ready in a minute.” He turns to find Sebastian fully dressed scrolling through his phone.

“This is really something Dave,” Sebastian says looking up “it’s just, I thought I told you I’ve got brunch with Lena and them this morning.”

“Oh that’s right,” David said trying to keep his voice from jumping an octave, “must’ve totally slipped my mind give me just a minute to freshen up and-”

“I mean I’ve got that brunch. You feel free to stay in and enjoy this tableau of domesticity,” Sebastian says gesturing around the kitchen where David’s carefully arranged coffee, syrup, and strawberries across the counter.

“Oh, of course,” David says, voice creeping higher as he turns back to his pancakes. These ones have too many bubbles, they’re going to be burnt when he flips them over. “Well tell her I say hello then, and maybe remind her that she has to submit her proposal if she still wants me to show her photos next month.”

“That sounds like something you should do, I wouldn’t want to mix business with pleasure you know.” Sebastian calls over his shoulder as he heads towards the door, “I’ll let you know when we’re through maybe you can swing by the studio later and we can finish those portraits.”

“Sounds great,” David says but the door has already closed. Taking a deep breath he presses the heels of his hands to his eyes refusing to cry this early in the morning. Once that’s under control he takes a look at the first stack of pancakes mocking him now and all of their golden perfection before he shuts off the stove and crawls back to bed leaving the others to burn in the pan.

~2~

“This is nice,” Rachel says quietly shaking Patrick from his thoughts. He’s standing at the stove ladling out pancake batter exactly as he'd watched his mom do for years. He knows by the time he's lined up six pancakes on the griddle first will be ready to flip. Each one the same size and color, exactly the way pancakes are meant to be.

Rachel is sitting at the table in their shared apartment working on her crossword puzzle. It's become a part of their Sunday routine- Patrick gets up early to go for a run the excuse of a shower saving him from her regular invitation to join him back in their bed. He always takes a little longer knowing that by the time he’s finished she’ll have given up on that idea and he’ll find her at the table with her first cup of coffee the Sunday paper spread around her.

He’s running late this morning. He was up at 5 am, watching the sun rise as he added extra miles to his loop. He tried telling himself the extra energy buzzing under his skin is excitement because they’re putting a deposit on a venue this afternoon.

Rachel is talking her way through the puzzle as he tries to keep his attention on finishing their breakfast. There’s a soothing monotony to pancakes- measure, pour, measure pour, flip- and he’s thankful for the distraction as he brings his breathing under control.

“I hope we still have time for this years from now,” Rachel says dreamily, pulling him out of his meditation. “I can picture it, you making pancakes for me and the kids- I used to love Sundays like that growing up.”

“Me too,” he says, forcing his voice to stay even- measure, pour, measure, pour, flip- “That’s how I learned to make pancakes actually. Mom did it every weekend.”

“It's so fun to think about all these traditions we get to have for ourselves now,” Rachel steps behind him at the stove, pressing a kiss into his shoulder.

“Careful,” Patrick turns sightly out of her grip, “I don't want to burn these.”- flip, flip, flip, can probably fit 2 more.

“Always the perfectionist,” she smiles, swatting him with her crossword.

The comfortable silence returns. Patrick stacks pancakes on the plate and pours himself a cup of coffee. He still doesn’t understand the appeal of the bitterness but Rachel wanted to try it as a potential favor for wedding guests so he hides his grimace under extra sugar.

“Maybe you can help me out,” her voice breaks him out of his thoughts as he turns back towards the table. “I need a five-letter word the clue is ‘ a feeling of____’.”

“Dread.” Patrick lets the word out, the buzzing finally settling under his skin.  
“Thanks!” Rachel chirps, grabbing a pancake from the plate. He looks at the pancakes in his hand, emotions rushing through his stomach and he knows in this moment they're not going to be booking their venue today.

~3~

“What is all of this?” Stevie asked as she opens the door cautiously. Anything that has David out of bed before 8 am deserves at least a moment of caution.

David stumbles through the door brandishing the box of pancake mix in front of him. “I know, I know it's early but I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important Stevie and look I brought Partick mix- I mean pancake mix-for pancakes. So I can make you pancakes-”

“It is way too early for this,” Stevie said, cutting him off before he could spiral any further. She moves the two empty bottles of wine off for counter and hands him a questionable looking pan before turning towards the coffee pot. She wonders if David will notice if she swaps out some of the water for whiskey- because really how else is she supposed to deal with whatever this is.

“You will absolutely be making me pancakes, but first what the hell is going on?”

David’s spiral continues as if she hadn’t cut him off. “It's just Patrick was at the store again yesterday. I thought he was just dropping off some paperwork or like I don't know whatever it is that business people do. But no, he came in and said he wants to go into business with me- like he wants to apply for grants and do the taxes and-and who even does that?!”

David is moving around her kitchen as he talks arms flailing wildly as he begins to mix the batter. He gives the pan a vague look of disgust, apparently too flustered to do anything more, before setting it on the burner. The cooking seems to calm him, as much as is possible given the situation, and Stevie took advantage of the momentary silence to rub the rest of the hangover out of her temples.

“And then he has to go and tell me that he actually took the time to pick out a frame for the business license before he brought it over- I mean it’s a terrible awful frame way to corporate- but still like why?!” He’s stacking pancakes in front of her as he speaks, each one perfectly round and golden because of course, they are. She digs a half-used bottle of syrup out of the cabinet and starts piling them onto a plate as she half listens. She’s pretty sure David doesn’t need her for this conversation anyways.

The coffee pot clicks off starting them both and Stevie pours herself a cup with. David looks towards it cautiously- no doubt debating if the lack of sweetener in her apartment is worth the need for caffeine.

“I like this for you,” she smirks over her mug, taking advantage of the momentary silence, “and not just because I'm getting pancakes out of it.”

David lets out a frustrated groan, and resumes his pacing around her kitchen and Stevie is just glad he’s too worked up to notice she’s eating his share of the pancakes.

~4~

Patrick doesn’t want pancakes

When he called the Café and asked Twyla for his usual order he hadn't stopped to think. His mind was too busy planning how he could go through the motions of running the store today talking to as few people as possible and go back to bed so he could wake up from this nightmare.

That means he wasn’t thinking about the fact that his usual Wednesday order included an extra-large macchiato and stack of pancakes for David, an incentive for doing the vendor runs earlier in the day instead of waiting until the afternoon. But then last night happened. Sliders and Rachel and a request for time. And now he’s looking at a coffee he won't drink and a stack of pancakes wondering how it all could have gone so wrong in less than 24 hours.

It isn't lost on him but the last time he didn't want to eat pancakes he was standing in the kitchen of his apartment with Rachel trying to gather the courage to call off their wedding. And now here he is 6 months later staring at another fucking stack of pancakes trying to think of a way to erase the pain of David’s words- damaged goods- from his heart.

He pushes the whole order into the trash before dropping to the floor behind the counter of the store- their store that they built together- trying to push back the feeling that he's just blown apart his whole life again.

~5~

David’s not sure pancakes say “sorry for turning you orange and also for trying to control all the plans” but Patrick has mix in his cabinet and it seems like an okay start.

They’d talked about it last night of course, but David couldn’t stop that voice in his head. He’d tried to explain that all of this- on the tanning, the quest for the perfect venue- wasn’t about Patrick. Well, not in the way Patrick kept saying it like he thought David had a problem with him.

No. He needed to get their wedding right for Patrick because Patrick deserves nothing less than perfection and David knows he is far from perfect. Too needy, overbearing, not worth it- loving Patrick has done a lot to put a lot of these anxieties to rest. Except when it can’t.

He’s not even sure this is the right apology-now that he think’s he’s pretty sure Patrick’s never ordered pancakes for himself only when David wants to share. So wow- even his attempt at an apology is self-centered.

He’s not sure what the answer is, but obviously pancakes aren’t it. So he leaves Patrick a note to enjoy the morning, the very least he deserves, and heads to the store. Maybe the walk will give him an idea.

Patrick returns from his run to a shockingly empty apartment. A note from David-take your time this morning xo- and a seemingly forgotten box of pancake mix the only signs he’d been there at all.

~ +1 ~

David’s not expecting to wake up to a cold bed on the first morning and their new home. Grabbing the note Patrick left on his pillow he sees his husband has gone running off his excess of excitement from the past 2 days. David stretches out thinking of all that they still have to do. If he’s going to be expected to unpack more boxes he’s going to need- he grabs Patrick’s shirt off the floor from where it landed last night an idea quickly forming in his mind.

Patrick isn’t thrilled about leaving his husband to wake up alone but David had groaned through his kisses pulling a pillow over his head and mumbling about the time of day- leading him to go for a run before trying to wake his husband properly. He drops a note on the bed and a kiss on David’s hair where it’s peaking out from the pillow before heading off.

David is glad they unpacked the kitchen yesterday. He pulls the mix down, starts boiling water for coffee and tea, and opens a playlist on his phone. He settles into the familiar pattern of pouring the batter and watching for bubbles while slowly mapping out their day

Patrick walks into the house slowly, mentally planning how to get David out of their bed to break in their shower, when the sight of his husband takes his breath away for reasons that have nothing to do with his run. David doesn't turn as he enters, he’s lost in thought, humming along quietly with Mariah as she sings out of the Bluetooth speaker he must have unpacked from somewhere. Patrick has watched his husband eat plenty of pancakes over the course of their relationship but he's never seen him make them. There is something so inexplicably right about David standing barefoot in their kitchen, wearing Patrick's t-shirt from last night, hair sticking up at crazy odd angles. It’s a far cry from every future Patrick has ever pictured and yet it’s everything that he wants.

David turns to change the song, catching sight of his husband in the doorway. Sweat darkening his barely-there curls, wearing the running shorts David got him for his last birthday, that calm set in shoulders that only comes from what he calls a good run. It’s so far from anything David has ever thought about and yet it’s exactly what he needs.

They pause, for a moment before they pounce. Patrick takes advantage of David in his shirt to wrap his arms around his husband- no need to worry about sweating on his knits. David turns in his arms lips chasing the taste of salt, pressing kisses along his jaw. One kiss turns to another before they break away laughing. Patrick sets his tea to steep and pours coffee from the french press while David fills plates with pancakes and strawberries and syrup. They sit at the counter trading kisses and bites of pancakes, the start of a lifelong tradition.

**Author's Note:**

> My husband and I just finished binge-watching this entire series and I couldn't get these characters out of my head. That seemed like as good a reason as any to dive back into the world of writing :) Thanks so much for checking this out.


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